A
Long Walk in the Australian Bushby William J. Lines
400 miles through the jarrah and kauri forests of Western Australia.
Paperback: 208 pagesUniversity of Georgia Press; ISBN: 0820320552; (September
)

Platypus:
The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the Worldby Ann Mozley Moyal
Consider the platypus, that curious Australian creature that seems
neither fish nor reptile nor mammal, but that has characteristics seemingly
borrowed from all over the animal kingdom. Charles Darwin certainly considered
it, puzzling over the platypus in the light of the rest of the world's
creatures, and remarking, "Surely two distinct Creators must have been
at work." Australian historian of science Ann Moyal offers plenty of natural-historical
information on the platypus in this slender, enjoyable book. What's more,
she examines the sometimes shocked reactions the platypus inspired in European
naturalists when they first saw specimens of the creature at the dawn of
the 19th century. For, Moyal writes, the platypus almost single-handedly
(or, perhaps better, single-web-footedly) overturned the prevailing classification
of animals according to great-chain-of-being models; with its hodgepodge
of physical traits and behaviors, it offered "an unexpected bridge between
the categories of mammal/quadruped and reptiles and birds." That bridge
helped set evolutionary theory on a new course; as Moyal writes, the platypus
played an explicit role in Charles Darwin's ideas on isolation, species
diversity, and natural selection, and he branded it a prime example of
a "living fossil" that had managed to find an unoccupied ecological niche
and live, relatively undisturbed, while fellow creatures marched toward
extinction. Scientists continue to study the platypus, Moyal writes in
closing, for its remarkable traits, including a seeming sixth sense that
helps it locate its prey in the underwater darkness. Her graceful book
sheds new light on the history of biology and ought to earn Ornithorhynchus
anatinus many new admirers. --Gregory McNamee - Amazon.com
Hardcover: 240 pagesSmithsonian Institution Press; ISBN: 1560989777; (September
1, )

Charles Darwin in Western Australia : A Young Scientist's Perception
of an Environment (Western Australian Experience Series)by Patrick Armstrong(Paperback - February 1986)Out of Print - Try Used
Books